universe, vast universe

"being held prisoner by your skin while reaching infinity; being a captive of your scrap of time while touching eternity"

[marthajefferson]

“One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It’s one of the oldest urges in mankind. It’s a way of stalling death.”

— Carlos Fuentes (via lovedly)

[mywingsaremadeofplastic]

[topshelf-ganseyboi]

The ancient texts (collages) from 2021 when I first read the Raven Cycle

[a-quiet-green-agreement]

Though he walked and breathed, and about him living leaves and flowers were stirred by the same cool wind as fanned his face, Frodo felt that he was in a timeless land that did not fade or change or fall into forgetfulness. When he had gone and passed again into the outer world, still Frodo the wanderer from the Shire would walk there, upon the grass among elanor and niphredil in fair Lothlórien.

– J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

[plasmometer]

commission for @thirtybythirty

[wolfythewitch]

My piece for the Sing O Muse zine! Its coming out in July so keep an eye out for the tag :]

[a-quiet-green-agreement]

"Touch me…I lied about wanting to be alone."

– G. G. Silverman, from “The Blood Year Daughter,” The Blood Year Daughter: Stories (Creature Publishing, 2026)

[quotespile]

“Less has come alive to his senses, his curiosity, his fears, his memory, and entered that separate realm of being in which the outer world does not vanish, not at all, but pricks with painful detail, the province not of the reader or the critic but of that suffering creature trapped behind the looking glass: the writer. For now Less is paying attention.”

— Andrew Sean Greer, Less Is Lost

[a-quiet-green-agreement]

He thought how all things glow, glimmer out and fade and fall away and how we must let ourselves be claimed by all passing things, vanishing bit by bit in them, but flourishing in them, too, flaring up in them as light passes over them like motes of dust: this is the slow giving away of oneself, the slow sacrifice, bit by bit. No, he thought, I belong to all things that glow and glimmer out, I am in their life and in their death, I live and die with and in them. I pass in seasons, blow in and out in weathers. I must suffer the death of living lonely things. I blow over my landscape like a wind. I am a part of everything that arrives, announces itself, flourishes, and passes. What, then, shall I proclaim?

– William Goyen, from “Nests in a Stone Image,” The Collected Stories (Doubleday, 1975)

[laurens-german]

OFF CAMPUS 01.06, The Breakaway

[little-miss-rasputin-pageant]

in almost every other children's book where the main heroine is swept away to a land of whimsy she's shown having a lovely time; braving dangers occasionally, trying to find her way home, sure, but ultimately delighting in the magic around her. meanwhile alice spends her entire time in wonderland like

[roach-works]

look, here’s the thing: alice in wonderland’s enduring fucking charm is that it perfectly captures the vibe of being a very tired and annoyed child who is nonetheless required to play along with adult nonsense.

alice is dragged from place to place without warning, forced to play stupid games with no good prizes, grilled over her schooling and manners and recitation and dress, scolded, judged, insulted to her face, sent away, given gifts she didn’t ask for and doesn’t like, corrected incorrectly, been subject to shifting and arbitrary rules, and then when she gets snappish with all this bullshit everyone acts like a little girl’s temper is the end of the fucking world.

alice in wonderland isn’t a drug trip or a nightmare or a metaphor, that’s just what being ten years old is LIKE. that’s why kids love it so much. even if they can’t quite articulate how, they recognize themselves in it.

[trans-pickles]

I'm gonna go ahead and add - the reaction image is barely even a joke. This is the original illustration of her at the Mad Hatter's tea party.

look at how fucking angry she is

[marzipanandminutiae]

"19th century child points out what a load of bullshit expectations for 19th century children were" is the most enduring type of 19th century children's book for a reason 

[a-quiet-green-agreement]

But like a boat with a bent rudder, I kept coming back to the same place—to me myself, and that self wasn't going anywhere. I myself was always right there, waiting for me to return.

– Haruki Murakami, End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland

[a-quiet-green-agreement]

The taste of cherries lingered on her own tongue, too, numbing. She had swallowed the pit of the last one she’d eaten, and she could feel it now, growing in her belly, making of her a slowly ripening fruit. She wondered when she'd bloom.

– Natalia Theodoridou, Sour Cherry

[pomea]

"And think, Satan, what a compliment you pay her, pursuing her soul, lying in wait for it, following it through all its windings, crafty and patient and secret like a gentleman out killing tigers. Her soul—when no one else would give a look at her body even! And they are all so accustomed, so sure of her! They say: 'Dear Lolly! What shall we give her for her birthday this year? Perhaps a hot-water bottle. Or what about a nice black lace scarf? Or a new workbox? Her old one is nearly worn out.' But you say: 'Come here, my bird! I will give you the dangerous black night to stretch your wings in, and poisonous berries to feed on, and a nest of bones and thorns, perched high up in danger where no one can climb to it.'"

sylvia townsend warner, lolly willowes

[juliedillon]

The full set (so far) of my king + knight illustration series 👑 ⚔

[iamjapanese]

KATAYAMA Nampu（堅山南風 Japanese, 1887-1980）

八重椿　Double-flowered camellia　via more

[quotespile]

“There is no real direction here, neither lines of power nor cooperation. Decisions are never really made – at best they manage to emerge, from a chaos of peeves, whims, hallucinations and all around assholery.”

— Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow